Transport Technology
' "Ship like this, be with you 'til the day you die."' "'Cause it's a deathtrap." ~Un-named Captain and First officer Discussing their new purchase From the earliest times of walking around as far as one's feet would carry you, most beings have sought faster and more efficient ways to get from point A to point B. The Encyclopedia Galactica defines transport as: "A technology to improve the speed of moving beings or cargo from one point to another." Which covers nearly anything from foot wrappings with leather as the first shoes, paved roads, the wheel on up to the traction jump drive. We assume most beings will be familiar with shoes, wheeled transportation and basic forms of locomotive technology. Below are areas of technology for other means of Conveyance. ---- Types *Atmospheric Transports: Transportation devices that remain within the Atmosphere of a planet for operation. *Orbital Transport: Transportation device that Conveys beings and things from the Surface of a planet to orbit and vice-versa. *Sublight Drives: Propulsion systems for maneuvering within a planetary system primarily, designated by their not being able to accelerate a ship beyond the speed of light limit. *Translight Drives: Drives that bypass the Speed of light limit and are used for inter-stellar travel. *Legacy Interstellar Devices: Other devices that are used for inter-stellar travel that are not part of a ship and usually planetary or orbit based. ---- Starship Types It's accepted that most ships one encounters will include at least a Sublight and Translight drive of varying effectiveness, and many will have a orbital transportation system of some sort, or be designed to dock with a orbital station. Thus Starships fall into a mixed category of transportation. They can, however, be classified as follows: *Personal Starships: Privately owned vessels. *Commercial Starships: Corporate or planetary government owned vessels. *Military Starships: Ships designed for military purposes usually for a company or government --------- On Starship licensing Various governments and agencies have all manner of regulations and laws concerning what classifies a ship as one thing or another. With all the different factions and groups among the galaxies it's nearly impossible to come up with a overall complete catalog of license and ship. In fact even the self-appointed Bureau of Ships and Starports (BOSS) has little in the way of enforcement for a ship to be registered with a government agency. Usually modern facilities and governments will give BOSS updated information as a courtesy, if they feel like it, making them currently the only, and highly un-official, starship registry in the Milky Way area. A ship does not have to be registered with a government agency or BOSS, however un-registered ships do tend to stand out moreso than one may like, and could even be turned down for services or docking permissions. Some may even find it expedient to register with BOSS as well as the local government, the additional fees for registering can sometimes more than pay for themselves on saved delays entering and exiting port. The most usual process for licensing a ship is the Captain's name, crew, type and place of manufacture, where the ship is registered from (The captain's homeworld or current planetary system if not applicable) and what the stated type of business the ship will be used for. Usually there is an inspection of the vessel to ensure it's not in poor condition or otherwise equipped differently than as stated, a payment of fees and license charges, and if approved then a specially coded License number is issued with both a hard copy data card as well as a special file one can add to the IFF or transponder for control authorization to inquire of, that will allow agencies to pull up the information in their database to verify the license is up to date and that the ship is registered. One should always check with local regulations concerning validity of a license, and to save on most delays, check to make certain that the local registry office updates their information with BOSS to ensure the widest coverage among the known worlds.